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North Dakota’s Experience

Explore North Dakota's Experience in Road Reconstruction focusing on the Fargo project area, public concerns, outreach efforts, obstacles overcome, and lessons learned. Discover the strategies and plans that were implemented during the construction phase to mitigate disruptions and ensure public safety.

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North Dakota’s Experience

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  1. North Dakota’s Experience Work Zone Focus State Workshop April 19, 2005

  2. North Dakota’s Roads • Rural state with 640,000 residents • Roads mainly product to market roads

  3. Project Area • I-29 Connects Canada to Mexico (I-35) • Metro area approaching 250,000 residents • Traffic counts • I-29 40,000 projected to exceed 70,000 • Crossroads about 35,000

  4. Project Characteristics • Reconstruct I-29 through Fargo – 8 Miles including all interchanges and new underpasses • Reconstruct Main Avenue one mile each side of I-29 • Lengthen Railroad Separation • Started in 2000 and will continue into 2008 • $130 million project

  5. Public Concerns • One of four major north south routes in Fargo • Regional Hospital and College on north side • Large number of employees on the south side • Regional shopping center along corridor • Closed main entrance into mall during construction • Affected almost everyone in town • Night closures for beam setting and underground • Closed ramps at I-29/I-94 detoured onto city street

  6. Outreach Efforts • Overall goal was to reduce crashes and inform public of travel interruptions • $380,000 over four years • Primarily targeted roadway users

  7. Barriers and Obstacles • Biggest barrier was changing mindset that construction was horrible and life altering • Overcome by educating and obtaining public buy in

  8. Pre-Construction Outreach • “Normal” public process during environmental process • Business Advisory Group between environmental process and bidding • Co-sponsored by Chamber of Commerce • Small group of affected businesses met quarterly to discuss plans and work zone traffic control • Allowed businesses to plan for construction

  9. During Construction Outreach • Safety message – “Let’s get there together, safety first” • Tools used • Website • Leave behinds • Press releases • Live webcams of workzone • Difficult to keep information current in a rapidly changing workzone

  10. During Construction Outreach • Contractor public relations • Contract required contractor to provide a public information person to update affected property owners • Required weekly contact and updates to the property owners • Contractor controls schedule and resources so they know best what is going to happen • ER Book

  11. Results of Outreach • Successful • Website • Buying advertising • Picking a media firm • Leave behinds • 2000 42 crashes without PIC • 2001 19 crashes with PIC

  12. Lessons Learned • Lessons learned • Time invested up front pays off • Working hard at keeping lines of communications open • Develop partnerships • What could be done differently in the future • Get to the affected property owners earlier

  13. Summary • Summarize key points (i.e., top 5 things to keep in mind when developing/implementing an outreach campaign) • Closing comments/last thoughts to help attendees develop their own strategies and plans later in the day

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